Xari Arena 6/24/83

This is an early, but fully playable version of Xari Arena with
some very interesting differences. In this version you can
make the paddle concave or convex by pushing left or right in
order to reflect the shots at different angles. Another important
difference is that you cannot collect the fireballs, only reflect
them back at the Xaris. Unfortunately this works better in
theory than in practice, and after focus group testing John
decided to completely change the gameplay around to the
masterpiece that we're more familiar with.

This particular prototype is signed by programmer John Seghers
himself.

Prototype
Differences

Your paddle is very thin and can be flexed inward and
out by pushing left and right. The idea was that
you could reflect shots at different angels, but it
doesn't work very well.

You cannot collect fireballs, you can
only reflect them back at the Xari's.

The Xari's are all in the center of the
screen at the start of the level. In the later
version they come out a few at a time from a well in the
center of the screen (which is not present in this
version).

There are no fire extinguishers.

Your paddle moves much faster which makes
it hard to line it up with the shots.

The fireballs are different looking, they
are shaped like asterisks *.